


Love's Bright and Fragile Glow

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-29 22:40:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15738771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Strange and Stark have something.  They surely both need that something.





	Love's Bright and Fragile Glow

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after Avengers4 and in this story, Steve Rogers was killed in that conflict, but they saved the ones that Thanos turned to dust. Only Strange remembers what happened while he was dust. 
> 
> These lines from Before the Deluge by Jackson Browne express the mood of the piece:  
>  _And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered_  
>  And in the end they traded their tired wings  
> For the resignation that living brings  
> And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow  
> For the glitter and the rouge  
> And in a moment they were swept before the deluge

“Good to see you, Doc,” Tony held out his hand to shake Strange’s hand. 

Doctor Strange seldom shook hands with anyone and even now, he did it with his black gloves on. “Stark,” he acknowledged Tony, something he seldom did with most people. He’d only been back a few months. The others who had turned to dust didn’t remember what had happened, but he did. He remembered every single second of it.

“I never got the chance to thank you for saving me back there,” Tony said awkwardly. Thank you was not something he was used to saying. 

“You know the only reason I did it was that you were part of our one chance. But I’m glad I did it.”

“Come, have a seat, have a drink.” Stark was tap dancing around. 

“What do you want, Stark?” 

“Cut to the chase. I like that. I never knew how little tact I have until I met someone with less.” 

“And?” Strange acted angry and bored, but he always acted that way. He actually had been nervous about coming here and meeting Stark again. Not that he would ever acknowledge such a thing, even to himself. 

“I understand from Bruce, who got it from Wong, that you guys are underfunded.”

Strange laughed. “You could say that. Protecting the world does not pay well.” 

“Don’t I know it? Being filthy rich helps, though. That is why I want to help you fund the Sanctum. I want – I need to do all I can to stop beings like Thanos from threatening us again. If helping you and Wong buy groceries and pay the electric and water bills does it, then I’m up for it.”

“No. I can’t be beholden to you or anyone else.”

“I’m not asking for control or input. I want you there to help protect the world from threats. I want to know that you and Wong are guarding us, too.”

“Wong and I will discuss it. I’ll get back to you.”

“Want a drink? I have some really nice single malt.” 

Strange started to say no but it had been a long, long time since he’d had a good Scotch. “Sure. I can’t afford the stuff anymore, and I developed quite a taste for it when I was a surgeon and made money.”

Tony led him to the bar and stepped behind to pour their drinks. He handed one to Strange and held his up in a salute. “To Cap. He, uh, paid the highest price.” 

Strange drank to Rogers. 

“Do you need someone to drive you home?” 

Strange laughed. “No. I have my own transportation.” He made a circle of fire and stepped through it. 

*

Wong was waiting when he returned to the Sanctum. “What did Stark want? To invite you to his wedding?” 

The tabloids and gossip shows talked nonstop about Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. Theirs would be one of the weddings of the decade, second only to a prince and an actress. 

“Not at all, but I’m sure your invitation still stands.” Wong had told him about Tony saying he was invited to the wedding. 

Wong laughed. “I don’t have a thing to wear. What did he really want?” 

“To give us money. I turned him down, of course.”

“Why? Between us, we don’t have enough money for dinner.” 

“I don’t want him telling us what we should be doing or nosing into to Sanctum business.”

“Is that what he offered?” 

“He said he wouldn’t interfere.”

“Then maybe you need to reconsider. We seriously are short on money and we need heat for the winter. It gets pretty cold here in New York.”

“Perhaps Hong Kong can spare us a little change.” 

“Maybe, but it won’t be enough. Talk to him again. Get him to sign an agreement.” 

“I’ll talk to him, but don’t hold your breath, Wong.”

“Don’t be stubborn, Strange.” 

*

Doctor Strange called Tony a couple of days later. “I probably should talk to you about your offer again.”

“Come on over. I’m in the lab. Happy will show you the way.”

Strange had to admit that there was something about Stark that he liked. They were, in some ways, very much alike. They were both arrogant pricks; that was for sure. 

He rode the subway part of the way and walked the rest of the way to Stark Tower. He needed the exercise. True to his word, Happy was actually there to unlock the door and let him in. 

“Go on up. He’s on the next to the top floor. When the elevator stops, just ask FRIDAY to let you in.”

“Friday?”

“She’s the boss’s AI and she controls the locks.” 

He thanked Happy and stepped on to the elevator. FRIDAY let him off on the floor where Stark’s lab was. He stepped out into one massive room that seemed to cover a good portion, if not all, of the entire floor. 

Tony was standing in front of several screenless displays, looking very busy. 

“Oh, hi, Doc. Come on over. I’m working on some ideas for suits for future Avengers. After Ultron, I don’t want any empty suits.”

Strange walked closer. 

“Fix yourself a drink. The bar is over there. Let me get this one thing done and I’ll be with you.” 

Strange wandered over to the bar. He thought about calling Tony out and demanding his attention now, but there seemed to be no need to show Stark that _he_ was as self-important as Stark was. Perhaps it was all they’d been through that made him a little less harsh with Stark than he would normally be.

At the end of the day, Stark was as much a hero as anyone was, maybe more. 

Tony finished his chore rather quickly and joined Strange at the bar. 

“Another single malt?” Stark asked.

“Little early in the day.” 

“Not driving, are you?” He poured them both a drink and handed one to Strange. “What can I do you for?” 

“I am against taking your money and Wong says I’m being irresponsible by not taking it.” 

“I meant what I said about no strings. I simply want to assure the fact that you or someone will be minding the store.” 

“I am a natural skeptic,” Strange said he took a sip of his drink. 

“You’re preaching to the choir here, Doc,” Tony said as he pointed with his drink hand to a sofa a few feet away and walked over to sit. 

“Wong says we get it in writing.” 

“Wong is a wise man. I knew I liked him when we met. I’m willing to do that.”

“What kind of money are we talking here?”

“What kind do you need? You can have the bills sent to me. We can talk about a certain amount per month or per year. I’m willing to do whatever is best for your Sanctum.”

“Why are you really doing this? I know what you said, but there has to be more.”

“You saved me. I know part of it because I was needed to fix the thing, but you saved me nonetheless. That’s something I can’t really repay, but I’d like to help out. You might be an ass, but you’re needed.”

“No more of an ass than you.” 

Tony laughed. “Too true. So what d’you say? Deal?” 

“I’ll have Wong help me come up with some figures and you can have your lawyer look it over.”

“I’ll let Pepper look over it. She knows I’m making this offer. She and I are no longer a thing, but she’s still CEO of Stark Industries and the smartest person I know.” 

“Thank you, Stark. I still am a little confused by your generosity, but thanks.”

“Um, do me a favor?” 

Here it comes, thought Strange. 

“Take me somewhere with that ring. I did it the once but I want to try it again.” 

Strange smiled. This he could do. “Where to?”

“Does distance matter?” Tony cocked an eyebrow. 

“I prefer on this planet but other than that, no.”

“Take me to Brooklyn.” He scribbled the address and handed it to Strange. 

Strange knew where they were going. “Come along.” 

They stepped through the ring of fire into a small cemetery. They walked to a set of graves – one said Joseph and Sarah Rogers and the other said Steven Grant Rogers. Tony stood before the graves quietly. There was a single tear escaping from the corner of his eye when he turned to Strange. 

“I’m ready to go back. I need another drink.”

Wordlessly, Strange nodded and took him home. 

The only other thing he said was while he poured them both another Scotch. “He was the best man I ever knew.” He raised his glass. “God help us all.”

Strange drank and said nothing. 

*

Strange thought a lot about Stark over the next few days. Stark was selfish and selfless, willing to fight to the death for something, yet wanting to get his own way all the time. Strange was still a bit new to this greater purpose thing, even if he had helped save the world twice. He still wasn’t sure of his own motives at all. 

He didn’t know why he was relieved that Stark and Potts had broken it off. Potts was lovely and obviously quite intelligent to keep up with Stark. Perhaps the stress of Stark’s recklessness is what drove her away, for he was sure it was her who called it off. 

Was there more to this reaching out to him and the Sanctum than he was seeing? 

The first hint that he was in way over his head came in his sleep a few nights later. He was on Titan, they were all injured, filthy, scared. And Stark kissed him. In the dream, he completely forgot everything but the kiss. 

And he woke up. His heart was pounding and he put a hand up to his mouth. 

This was crazy. 

He went back to sleep. 

Another dream. 

In the Sanctum, on the stairs, near the Cauldron of the Cosmos, he lay on the steps and Stark was there. Naked. They both were. Stark leaned down to --- 

He woke again. His body had responded to this one. He was hard and breathless. He refused to acknowledge the whole thing and tried to sleep again. 

Sleep did eventually come. Stark was back, too. Naked, under him, crying out his name. 

Shit! He woke in the wet spot. Good god! A fucking wet dream at his age?! 

Maybe he’d better not see Stark again. No man had ever inspired anything like this in him. 

No woman either, for that matter. He had never been a man of great sexual passion. His passion was his work, perfecting his work. He had screwed nurses and pretty socialites, whoever was handy when the itch needed scratching. Even Christine had been more friend than anything else. 

Why the hell was he dreaming about fucking Tony Stark? 

Giving up on sleep, he got up and made some tea. He sat in the library and drank his tea, waiting for morning so he could call and turn Stark down. 

“You need to take his offer. We still have a hole in our floor.” 

He hadn’t heard Wong come in the room. “You read minds now, do you?” 

“Yours? Maybe.”

“I certainly hope not.”

Wong laughed and sat in the other chair. “He disturbs you.” 

“He does.” 

“Is he offering more than help?” 

“My dreams think so.”

“Do you want more than that?” 

“My dreams think so.” 

“Accept his offer. Make up a contract. Sign it. And see if he really makes the offer your dreams want him to,” Wong said as he looked over his teacup at Strange, hiding a smile. There were fireworks from the beginning between those two. Strange would chew through the psyche of anyone weaker than he was. Stark wasn’t weak. He’d give Strange as good as he got. Strange needed that. Maybe Stark did, too. 

*

Strange wrote up an agreement and went to see Stark. He was wearing his full Doctor Strange regalia, including his cloak. He handed him the three page document and Stark simply signed it and gave it back. 

“Now tell me what I am going to do for your Sanctum.” 

“There are no specified amounts. We will send our bills to you, your accountant, or whoever you choose and you can pay them as long as you wish. Any bill you feel is unneeded or frivolous, you can refuse and you can end the agreement at any time, as can we.” 

“So why the agreement at all?” 

“To protect you. And us, if you get to be a major pain in the ass.”

Tony shook his head. “You should know by now, Mr. Wizard, I’m always a pain in the ass.” 

Strange nodded. “I knew that about you before we met.” 

“So now we part ways?” Tony asked him. 

“If you wish. I’m sure you have work to do as do I.” 

“Mostly I tinker with my suits and wait for disaster to strike.” 

“I read and complain and do the same, if you want the real truth. I do think it’s laundry day, though. Wong makes me help with that.” 

When Strange turned to go, the Cloak of Levitation pulled him back toward Tony. 

“What are you doing?” He asked the cloak. It shoved him toward Stark. “Stop it!” 

“The cloak trying to tell you something? Like you made a bad deal?” Tony was very amused. He hadn’t smiled much in a while and the cloak made him do so. 

“No, it’s just being an ass.” One of the collar points smacked him and Tony laughed out loud. 

“Come back then and see if that’s what it wants.” 

Strange came back toward Tony. “I may have to move in. Maybe I should call Wong and see if he can talk some sense into the thing.” 

“Come on in and we’ll find something to eat. It’s almost lunch time. Pepper always yelled at me for eating junk or forgetting to eat, so I try to eat more regularly. Steve -” he stopped as if he might choke on the name, then continued, “ate like a horse.”

“You were close?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Strange knew how close they were, that they had been more than friends. “Ah, I’m sorry. Not my business.” He started backing toward the door. 

“No, it’s all right. We were very close. I still think I can’t wait to tell him something or to show him something. I – I – there are not any words I can find to describe his being gone. It’s like I have a real hole in my chest now, one that takes the place of my heart.”

Strange looked at the floor, remembering his sister’s death and how it destroyed his mother and father. “I didn’t know. I am sorry for your loss.” He felt like a fool saying it, but what else was there to say? 

“Thank you, Strange. Now, come and let me feed you.” He motioned Strange over to the bar in his lab. He took the makings for sandwiches out of the fridge and put a loaf of bread on the bar. “What’ll it be?” 

Strange let Stark make him a turkey on rye. He was pondering how to eat with his gloves on when Tony said. “You can take them off. I know about your hands. Eating should be easier that way.” 

Stark didn’t watch as he removed the gloves. His hands still trembled slightly all the time, just not as bad as they once had. The scars were plentiful and some were deep and still red after all this time. Most were white now, though, faded with age. 

They ate in silence, but it was companionable silence. They were two men who knew pain and sorrow and didn’t need to talk further about it. 

After they were done and everything put away, Strange started to put his gloves back on and Tony reached out and put his hand over Strange’s scarred ones. He didn’t speak but took one hand in his and turned it over, running the fingers of his other hand over the scars ever so lightly, tracing some of the longer ones from beginning to end. Strange forgot to breathe. He wasn’t sure what was happening. 

He figured it out when Tony brought the hand up to his mouth and kissed the palm almost reverently. He lifted his eyes to Strange’s. He felt his defenses beginning to crack. Tony Stark was getting to him in a way he wasn’t completely sure anyone had. 

“What are -”

Stark stopped him mid-word. “No questions now. If you want to explore this, stay. If not, there will be no hard feelings. I’ll never mention it again.” 

Strange didn’t move or speak.

Stark stood. “Come with me, then.” He still held Strange’s scarred hand in his as they went to his private elevator that opened into Stark’s bedroom on the penthouse floor. The cloak had wrapped itself around Strange when they got into the elevator and it hung itself up on a hanger in the closet when they stepped out into the bedroom. 

Tony still held his hand. He pulled Strange close and let go of his hand as he embraced him, putting his arms around Strange and his head against his shoulder. For a second, Strange did nothing then he lifted his arms around Tony’s back and pulling his body closer. 

“You are -” Strange cut Tony’s words off with his mouth, kissing Stark. He kept kissing him as Stark backed him toward the bed. When the backs of his knees hit the bed, he sat, still continuing the kiss.

Tony broke the kiss. “God, that was intense.” 

Strange looked into his dark eyes. He couldn’t argue. It was. With others, all of it had been simply another form of masturbation. He’d used other bodies without any real connection with them. This was personal. This actually was about Tony Stark and him, not just him. 

Tony unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it open, running his hands over Strange’s chest, then shoving the shirt off his shoulders far enough that Strange shrugged it the rest of the way off and tossed it to the side. With his own shaky hands, Strange reached for the hem of Stark’s t-shirt and lifted it up and over his head, adding it to the pile in the floor. 

He saw the scar on Stark’s chest where the Arc Reactor had been. It was round and faded but it would never fade all the way away. He traced the circle with a trembling finger. Tony stopped breathing for a few seconds then his breath hissed out of him. He moaned out loud when Strange leaned down and traced the circle with his tongue. 

“Jesus, Doc!” 

Strange felt himself smile, something he had not done in a long time. He looked up at Stark, then moved one hand down to Tony’s waist, to the top of his pants. He paused for a second then moved his hand down, feeling the heat of Stark’s erection through his pants. 

“You’re awfully hard, Stark,” he murmured as he kissed Tony, caressing him through the fabric. 

Tony involuntarily jerked his hips slightly into the caress. 

“Like that, do you?” Strange purred in that velvety voice of his. 

“Just listening to you talk makes me want to come,” Tony answered. 

“All in due time.”

Strange pushed him back so he was lying on the bed. He unbuckled and unzipped Stark’s trousers, opening them instead of pulling them down. Tony grunted, obviously wanting to be touched. Strange slid his hand under Tony’s boxers, down inside them. He took Tony into his hand. 

“Your skin is on fire, Stark.” Strange leaned down and kissed Stark’s belly, just above his boxers while his hand still held Tony’s cock. 

“Pants… want them off,” Tony ground out. 

Strange disengaged and removed Tony’s pants and underwear in one movement. He let them drop somewhere in the vicinity of their shirts. 

“Yours, too,” Tony said as Strange stood and unbuckled and unbuttoned then let his trousers drop to the floor where he kicked them away. He was as hard and ready as Tony. 

Shoes had come off earlier and socks joined the pile as an afterthought. Strange sat beside Tony and began to kiss him again as his hand wandered. 

“I was going to seduce you,” Tony told him as his hands began to explore, too. 

“Too late.” 

“Fuck yes.”

Strange urged him all the way up and onto the bed and spread Tony’s legs. He ran those scarred hands down Tony’s thighs from his knees to his crotch. Once there, he took Tony into his hand again and bent over him, taking him into his mouth quite quickly. 

“Goddamn, Doc! Are you trying to kill me?” 

Strange didn’t stop what he was doing, just made a sound in his throat that might have been an affirmative. Tony reached his hand down and found Strange’s free hand and grasped it, twining his fingers with Strange’s. He grasped the bedspread in his other hand, squeezing it hard as his hips arched into Strange’s ministrations. 

Strange tortured Stark, slowing down when he knew Tony was close, going still now and then before starting the onslaught all over again. Tony was cursing in one breath and begging in the next. Finally Strange didn’t stop or slow down but sucked deep and hard, using his tongue to drive Tony over. 

Tony lay still, seemingly boneless as Strange raised his head and wiped the corner of his mouth. 

“Doc, I’ll do anything for you after that.”

The thought occurred to Strange that he’d love to bury himself all the way into Stark’s ass, but not this time. They had time later for that. He lay beside Stark, pulled him close, held him for a few minutes. 

“Hey, I know I’m an old guy but I’m not dead. Let me please you. Tell me.”

Strange put his hands on the top of Stark’s shoulders and pushed him down. He needed that smartass mouth on him. He needed to spill himself in Tony’s mouth. 

Tony touched him with both hands, running them up and down him. Then he licked him. Like a lollipop. Slowly from base to tip. Strange groaned out loud. “You are a monster, Stark.” 

Tony was no more merciful than he had been and drew things out for several minutes before he wrapped his hand around Strange to move things along quite quickly. 

“Monster!” Strange called him again as he came, much more intensely than he’d expected. Very much more. 

Tony moved up beside him. “We all are monsters, Doc. Every damn one of us.” 

*

Strange woke up some time later in Stark’s bed. The covers were over him and the room was dark. His eyes popped open and he looked to the other side of the bed. He was a little surprised to see Stark lying there. He was on his stomach with one arm and one leg out of the covers. 

He was mumbling in his sleep, something about Rogers.

Strange decided it would be intrusive to try to understand what he said. He looked at the display by the bed. It was the middle of the night. He had been asleep for quite a few hours. He was hungry and he needed to pee. 

He quietly moved the covers off and sat up on the edge of the bed. The bathroom light was on and the door was cracked just enough that he could see to get there. His clothes, however, were all over the floor and mixed up with Stark’s. He didn’t dare get on the elevator naked, so he went back to the bed. 

Tony grunted and sat up. 

“Who? Oh, it’s you, Doc. Geeze, it’s 3am! Who knew a blow job could put a man out like that? I’m hungry. You? I am sure we can find something or if not, I’m sure we can find some kind of all night take out or delivery. Happy can get – well, no, I suppose waking Happy would be kinda shitty.”

“If it’s all right, I’d like to turn on the light and find my trousers.”

The light was bright, but his eyes adjusted quickly since he’d just been in the lighted bathroom. He retrieved his pants and put them on, leaving the shirt and underwear off. He did fold them and lay them at the foot of the bed. 

Stark did the same, though he did put a t-shirt on. Strange assumed it was the scarring that made it a habit. He had seemed a bit self-conscious about it, something Strange certainly understood. 

“So let’s see if there is anything not molded other than mustard in here. I eat more down in the lab than up here, but I’m too damned tired to walk that far.”

He found sandwich food, some apples and a bottle of wine. Strange saw bread and some chips. 

“A feast?” Stark asked with a smile. 

They ate turkey sandwiches with potato chips and a red table wine. The apples were dessert. 

“I was starving,” Tony chattered as they went back to the bedroom. 

Strange picked up his clothes from the bed. 

“You can stay,” Stark motioned toward the bed. “A little more sleep might be a good thing. To be truthful, that’s the longest I’ve slept since…” He let the sentence trail off. Both of them knew what he meant. 

“Me, too,” Strange admitted. He put the clothes in a chair and started to get back in bed in his pants, but slipped them off at the last minute and pulled the covers up quickly. It made no sense to be modest now, but he wasn’t familiar enough with Stark to walk around naked yet. 

Yet? 

Did this mean he was already thinking of doing this again? He’d have to give that some thought. But not tonight. Tonight he would rest. Just as he closed his eyes, Stark moved close and threw an arm across him, making a rather unintelligible sound before settling down. 

Both of them were sound asleep in less than five minutes.


End file.
